Pumping apparatus



A. J. ADAMS 2,231,650

PUMPING APPARATUS Filed Aug. 24, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 F 3? HRTHUH JOHN HDHP15 wary/m 2 7 m'romaf A. J. ADAMS 2,231,650

PUMPING APPARATUS Filed Aug. 24 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 HNVENTOR HRTH R J HN HDH S Patented Feb. 11, 1941 UNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE Application August 24, 1940, Serial No. 354,057 In Great Britain November 22, 1938 4 Claims.

This invention relates to pumping apparatus comprising a positive displacement pump of the oscillating piston type and has for its object to provide improvements therein.

Now in accordance with the present invention I provide pumping apparatus comprising a pump of the oscillating piston type, a suction tank formed on the'inlet side of the pump from which liquid is pumped to a delivery tank for the purpose of forming a seal to the valves, means being provided so that no air is passed through the pump until the suction tank is empty, and then the air is pumped through the liquid which at that time is transferred to the delivery side of the pump.

I may also provide suction breaking means.

The said means may comprise a suction breaking pipe so arranged and adapted to operate that the pump first delivers a quantity of liquid to air-seal all valves and the suction-breaking pipe and then delivers all the air in the system through that liquid.

The apparatus may comprise a pump, an inlet container or tank and a delivery container or tank with which the said pump communicates (the delivery tank may be the usual delivery pipe with slight modification), and a substantially U-shaped channel or pipe communicating with the inlet tank and which may be adapted 30 to be attached to a suction main, and means whereby the said U-shaped channel or pipe is adapted to retain and define the pre-determined height of the liquid to be used for priming the pump.

35 The accompanying drawings illustrate three forms of device, by way of example, made in accordance withthe present invention as applied to means for pumping water,

Fig. l is a part sectional side elevation of one 40 form, and

Fig. 1a is a fragmentary detail showing an end of a by-pass pipe used in this form.

Fig. 2 is a section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a part sectional side elevation of another form and Fig. 4 is a front sectional elevation thereof;

Fig. 5 illustrates a modification in part sectional elevation.

In the form of device illustrated in Figs. 1 and 50 2, an oscillating piston pump I is mounted on the top of an inlet tank or container 2 and an inlet pipe 3 extends downwardly inside said tank 2 to a point adjacent to the bottom 4 of the tank. The inlet pipe 3 to the pump I, thus disposed :55 inside the inlet tank 2 or container, is provided with one or more airports 5, which ports are adapted to pass air to the pump I when a given amount of liquid has been passed by the pump, as hereinafter described. To this tank or container 2 is attached one inturned end 6 of a limb 8 of an inverted substantially U-shaped pipe 8, the remainder of said limb 8 extending upwardly parallel to the axis of the inlet pipe 3. The bend 9 of the U-shaped pipe 8 can be conveniently above the centre of the pump and the free limb 10 IQ of the U-shaped pipe extends down the back of the pump parallel to the axis of the inlet pipe, and it is adapted to be connected with a suction main. The U-shaped pipe 8 forms part of the tank 2 in this respect, that it retains and defines the predetermined height of the liquid to be used for priming. Near the top of the U- shaped pipe 8 is disposed a filling plug l l for said pipe. A suction-breaking pipe I2 is provided which sets up communication between the delivery and the suction side of the pump I and consists of a pipe or duct calibrated at one Section I3. The word calibrated is used in connection with a short length of slot 13a. in the pipe, the dimensions of which are arrived at by the speed at which it is required to break the suction, thus if a very small slot were used, the suction would take longer to break and would become more likely to become choked with sediment. Therefore the largest slot consistent for both purposes is used.

The pipe or duct I2 is covered with gauze M on the delivery side of the pump, and so arranged that it returns liquid to the suction tank 2. It is provided with a hand-operated valve [20. for 5 use when the pump is delivering under considerable pressure or an ordinary ball tap is incorporated in the delivery tank which cuts off communication otherwise than by the valves between the two tanks when the delivery tank fills. This is necessary only when the maximum delivery is essential as, in ordinary practice, free communication with its slight loss through the suction breaker is not felt, as a considerable gain in delivery is obtained owing to the absence of a foot valve with its obvious obstruction to the flow. The delivery tank I5 is of a size adapted to receive and contain all the liquid delivered by the pump 1 until the air-ports 5 in the inlet pipe 3 are free to pass air. 5

. In operation the device is primed manually or by the pump by first delivering into the delivery tank l5 a quantity of liquid, e. g water, substantially sufiicient to cover the gauze l4 and so to make an air-seal. At all times the first few strokes of the pump 1 will raise sufiicient liquid from the inlet tank or container 2 to cover the suction breaking pipe l2 in the delivery tank 15 with liquid, thus forming the air-seal. The inlet ports 5 of the inlet pipe 3 are then free to pass the air from the suction main. All air from the suction is pumped through with the water in the pipe 8 until the system is completely filled. Thus liquid is quickly raised to the inlet tank, the pump, and so forth.

When the operation of pumping has been completed, the air pressure forces the liquid back through the pump.

When the strainer or gauze I4 on the suctionbreaking pipe i 2 is above the liquid level, the suction is broken immediately in the suction main, thus leaving the liquid level controlled by the U-shaped pipe 8 for repriming. The liquid at all times when the pump 1 is not in use remains at a level not far below the junction of the suction-breakingpipe l2 with the top of the U-shaped pipe 8.

For water, the tanks or containers may be relatively small, holding about 1 /2 pint-s, and the time taken to lift 15 ft. may be 15 seconds, or to lift 25 ft. 20 seconds for a pump of approximately 1" suction main.

It is advantageous to form pump and tanks in one casting and they can be so constructed that a pump can be installed to take the place of existing pumps without alteration of existing pipe work. Such a construction is illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4.

In the form of the invention illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4, there is provided a single unit arrangement where the priming apparatus is in one casting with the pump. In this case the housing It of the oscillating piston pump [1 is extended to form an inlet tank 18 in which is situated the inlet stand pipe l9 with an open top 26 near the top of the tank I 8. The inlet pipe is screwthreaded at 21 and forms a support or stand for the tank l8 and pump 11. The tank 18 and pump I1 are screwed on tothe pipe [9 and suitably secured in position by nuts 22. The rocker or oscillating piston member 23 of the pump is carried by a spindle 24 of which one end 25 rocks in a bearing 26 in the wall 21 of the housing I6, the other end 28 of the spindle being adapted to be driven by suitable driving means. The bearings of the ends of the spindle 24 are supported by a bracket 29 fixed to the housing 16 and straddling the inlet port 30 of the pump, provided at the bottom of wall 21. The side walls 3| of the bracket 29 cut off the pump chamber 32 from the inlet port 36 and are provided with flap valves 33 giving access to the said chamber 32. The rocker 23 is also provided with fiap valves 34 giving access to the delivery tank 35. A suction-breaking pipe 36 is disposed transverse to the pump chamber 32, substantially in the plane in which lie the spindle 24 and the longitudinal axis of the tank 35 and on a plane above the open end 20 of pipe I9. One end 31 of the pipe 36 is hollow and is externally screwthreaded, and is adapted to be screwed into a correspondingly threaded socket 3B in the wall 21. The other end of the pipe 36 is closed and elongated and provided with a screw-driver neck 39 and is adapted to fit into a bush 40 disposed in a socket 4| in the wall 42 of the pump housing. The socket 4! is screw-threaded at its outer end for the reception of a plug 43. The pipe 36 is provided with lateral holes 44, and is covered with gauze or perforated copper 45. The pump housing I6 is provided with external fixing lugs 46 and the delivery tank 35 is provided with an outlet pipe 41. A drain-hole 48 is provided in the housing I6.

In use, the inlet pipe performs the function of the U -tube in the previous example.

The water-seal is pumped up to the delivery tank 35 by the first two or three strokes of the pump, through a substantially U-shaped path between the end 20 of pipe I9 and the delivery tank 35, and during this process water is delivered back to the inlet tank 18 by the suctionbreaking pipe 36, and continues to be so delivered throughout the operation of priming. Air at no time is drawn through the suction-breaking pipe 36 by the pump. When the suction operation is finished and the suction breaker is no longer submerged atmospheric air passes through the pipe end 31 to the inlet tank 18 and prevents any syphoning action and so maintains the correct level for repriming.

When the pump is working, the suction-breaking pipe 36 is continuously washed on each side by the delivery, first on the right-hand side and then on the left, virtually eliminating all chance of sediment choking the strainer 45.

The delivery tank 35 provides an effective water or liquid seal to all the valves and the inlet tank l8 provides the liquid for so doing at the first three strokes of the pump. When the operation of pumping is complete, the liquid in the delivery tank 35 flows back through the pump to a predetermined level, when air is admitted to destroy the partial vacuum and retain sufl'lcient liquid to reprime the system when required.

In a modified form of device the suction-breaking tube 36 may be provided with a ball tap or valve such as is shown at [20. in Fig. 1, which can be conveniently arranged in the delivery tank 35, to eliminate the continuous by-passing of water back to the suction side of the pump during the pumping operation.

The drawings show the suction breaker so arranged that the inlet side of the pump and the delivery side are at all times in free communication and when a hand operated needle valve is employed they are only in communication at the will of the operator and when a ball valve is incorporated communication is cut off when the delivery tank is full.

In case of frost a pump as above described is free from fracture due to the expansion of the ice as, at all times, the pump is left slightly more than half full of water due to the height of the standpipe in the inlet tank. In the event of frost the ice rises in bulbous form in the inlet tank and also pushes its way through the valves in the pump body, and by this means the pump is free from fracture.

It will be understood that details of the system may be varied in many ways without departing from the scope of the invention.

I am aware that in types of positive displacement pump other than the oscillating piston type, it has previously been proposed to provide a suction tank formed on the inlet side of the pump from which liquid is pumped to a delivery tank for the purpose of forming a seal to the valves.

When it is desired to provide a continuous fiow in the form of a jet, as illustrated in the modification shown in Fig. 5, I extend the delivery pipe 41 down at 49 into the delivery tank 35, so as to form an air-bottle 5&1, and provide a comparatively restricted orifice 5| to the discharge end 52 of the pipe and so obtain the desired continuous jet when the requisite power is applied to the pump.

For example, if the delivery pipe 41 be about 1" in diameter I provide a restricted orifice 5| about 1 -6" in diameter. With ordinary speed of pumping there will be a discharge jet having a trajectory of approximately 20 feet which is of course increased or diminished according to the speed of the pump. This is useful as a fire jet, or for window-cleaning and the like. It is applicable to Figs. 1 and 2.

By air-bottles I mean a confined space containing air, which air equalizes the flow of liquid from the pump.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a pumping apparatus, a casing including opposed cylindrical side walls and end walls forming a pump chamber, one of the end walls having an inlet port for supplying fluid to said chamber, said chamber having an outlet at its top, an extension on said casing communicating with the pump chamber through said inlet port and forming a fluid supply chamber, a constantly open by-pass at the top of the pump chamber providing communication between the outlet side thereof and the supply chamber, a pump of the oscillating piston type in said pump chamber, said by-pass consisting of a laterally perforated tube extending across the pump chamber and having its perforations screened, the tube being closed at one end and open at the other end into said supply chamber.

2. In a pumping apparatus, a casing including opposed cylindrical side walls and end walls forming a pump chamber, one of the end walls having an inlet port for supplying fluid to said chamber, said chamber having an outlet at its top, an extension on said casing communicating with the pump chamber through said inlet port and forming a fluid supply chamber, a constantly open by-pass at the top of the pump chamber providing communication between the outlet end into said supply chamber, and a supply pipe extending upwardly into the supply chamber to terminate adjacent the top thereof.

3. In a pumping apparatus, a casing including opposed cylindrical side walls and end walls forming a pump chamber, one of the end walls having an inlet port for supplying fluid to said chamber, said chamber having an outlet at its top, an extension on said casing communicating with the pump chamber through said inlet port and forming a fluid supply chamber, a by-pass at the top of the pump chamber providing communication between the outlet side thereof and the supply chamber, a pump of the oscillating piston type in said pump chamber, said by-pass consisting of a laterally perforated tube extending across the pump chamber and having its perforations screened, the tube being closed at one end and opening at the other end into said supply chamber, said pump comprising a stationary member having sides straddling the inlet port, said sides having fluid ports and check valves covering said ports, said check valves being arranged to open toward said pump chamber, and an oscillating member having piston blades oscillatable about the axis of the pump chamber with the blades in contact at their radially outer ends with the cylindrical walls of said pump chamber, said blades having fluid ports and check valves covering said blade ports, said last named check valves being arranged to open toward said outlet.

4. In a pumping apparatus, a casing including opposed cylindrical side Walls and end walls forming a pump chamber, one of the end walls having an inlet port for supplying fluid to said chamber, said chamber having an outlet at its top, an extension on said casing communicating with the pump chamber through said inlet port and forming a fluid supply chamber, a by-pass at the top of the pump chamber providing communication between the outlet side thereof and the supply Y chamber, a pump of the oscillating piston type in said pump chamber, said by-pass consisting of a laterally perforated tube extending across the pump chamber and having its perforations screened, the tube being closed at one end and opening at the other end into said supply chamber, a supply pipe extending upwardly into the supply chamber to terminate adjacent the top thereof, said pump comprising a stationary member having sides straddling the inlet port, said sides having fluid ports and check valves covering said ports, said check valves being arranged to open toward said pump chamber and an oscillating member having piston blades oscillatable about the axis of the pump chamber with the blades in contact at their radially outer ends with the cylindrical walls of said pump chamber, said blades having fluid ports and check valves covering said blade ports, said last named check valves being arranged to open toward said outlet.

ARTHUR JOHN ADAMS. 

